The Prince's Devious Proposal - Holly Rayner Page 0,48

the things he’d said. She didn’t know whether she could believe him.

“You still never told me the truth,” she said. “I had to figure it out for myself. You had lots of opportunities to come clean with me, but you never did.”

“I meant to,” he said. “I would have tonight, if I’d gotten the chance.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know that,” she said. “I can’t know that. All I know is that you only told me your true intentions after I confronted you. And that makes it hard for me to trust you now.”

She got up. Petr stared at her. “Are you leaving?” he asked.

“I need to think about all this,” she said. “I need some time.” And she turned and walked out the door.

She managed to keep her emotions in check until she reached her car. Then, once she was safely inside, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Chapter 16

Sarah’s email arrived later that night. She had included the name, address, and contact information of their mother’s lawyer. The office was in downtown Los Angeles, not too far from where Naomi worked.

“I made an appointment for you tomorrow,” Sarah wrote, “but you can reschedule if it doesn’t work for you. Don’t wait too long, though. You want to make sure to get that money in the bank ASAP. Let me know if you need help finding a financial advisor or anything. Harry has some contacts in California who might be able to help.”

Classic big sister. Naomi rolled her eyes, but she felt a rush of warmth at the same time. It felt good to be taken care of, to know that her sister had her back. Even though she and Sarah weren’t very close, Naomi knew that she could trust her sister completely. She didn’t need to worry about being tricked in this relationship.

Again, she felt horrified and ashamed for allowing Petr to pull the wool over her eyes. That would never have happened to Sarah. Sarah would have refused to marry anyone who wanted to tie the knot that quickly. Naomi remembered how she had insisted on living with Harry for a year before allowing him to propose, even after the two of them had been sure that they were headed for marriage. She had told Naomi that she’d wanted to make sure they were compatible.

And it had worked. Their marriage was stable and solid. Harry was a caring, devoted husband. Naomi had always secretly thought of him as a little bit boring, but maybe it was better to be married to someone who wouldn’t surprise you.

She would certainly rather have never been surprised by Petr.

What was she going to do? She couldn’t even decide whether or not she wanted to speak to him again.

Of course, she was probably going to have to. They were legally married. Even if she decided she didn’t want him in her life at all, there was the matter of divorce papers.

She shuddered, thinking about it. How could she sit opposite him at a conference room table, lawyers by their sides, pretending that she hadn’t once stared up at him under the starlight, that she hadn’t studied the perfect muscles of his upper body and looked forward to the years she would spend memorizing the way they felt beneath her fingers?

And how could she bring herself to sign a document that gave him half of the inheritance her mother had left her, even if it would mean getting him out of her life for good?

It wasn’t even about the money. One and a half million dollars was still more than Naomi had ever imagined she would have. It was about the fact that it had been a gift from her mother, the last gift her mother would ever give her. Her mother had intended that money to help Naomi change her own life.

She would be horrified if she knew. She would be so disappointed.

Naomi decided to keep the appointment Sarah had made for her. The sooner she could speak to a lawyer about her situation, the better. The lawyer would be able to tell her just how bad things were and whether there was any way out of it.

With that vague hope in mind, she fell asleep.

Naomi awoke to the sound of her alarm beeping insistently.

Rolling over, she grabbed her phone from her nightstand. Her stomach dropped. She had slept in. She should have been at her desk half an hour ago.

Rick is going to murder me, she thought, jumping